Yakhnich Yamaha’s Sam Lowes claimed his fourth consecutive World Supersport victory at Portimao this afternoon.
The Lincolnshire rider did not have an easy time out on track as throughout the 20 laps had to fend off charges from MAHI Racing team-mates Kenan Sofuoglu and Fabien Foret, and in the second half of the race, Pata Honda’s Michael Van der Mark.
On the opening lap Sofuoglu led the way on turn one, only for Lowes to go in the lead. But on lap two Foret went into the front The experienced Frenchman led till lap nine when Lowes made his move to go first once again. This pattern continued for the rest of the race, with the lead changing many times between Sofuoglu, Lowes and Foret.
With four laps remaining Van der Mark joined the leading three bikes to battle for a podium finish, after closing the gap between third and fourth. The young Dutchman capitalised on a mistake made by Foret, who ran wide on turn one to go second. On lap seventeen the reigning champ went to the front, with Van der Mark pushing to second who overtook Lowes, the current championship leader in the process.
Sofuoglu was leading until the final lap, when he made a mistake after being involved in a small altercation with Van der Mark, and Lowes took advantage of this and propelled his Yamaha to the front. That is where the rider remained till his crossed the finishing line, followed by Foret and Sofuoglu. Van der Mark was just a second off the Kawasaki’s pace on the last lap and finished in fourth.
PTR Honda’s Sheridan Morais had a consistent race, and benefitted from a solid start which saw him in fourth on lap one. He could not match the pace of the Pata Honda machine and crossed the line in fifth. The South African did have a battle with Rivamoto’s Jack Kennedy, who did find himself as high as fourth in the early stages of the Supersport race.
On lap three the Rivamoto lad did get the better of Morais, but it did not last. The Dubliner was not able to fight for a podium finish throughout the rest of the race, and finished in a respective sixth place. But the youngster was able to hold off advances from Team Goeleven’s Andrea Antonelli and Kawasaki Intermoto’s Luca Scassa who crossed the line in seventh and eighth.
ParkinGO MV rider Christian Iddon found himself battling with team-mate Roberto Rolfo for a top ten finish. First the Brit was the one to overtake the Italian on lap two, but Rolfo soon took charge and pushed his way to tenth. But the Stockport rider had the last laugh when he finished in tenth, as Rolfo had to retire to the pits with a technical problem.
Rolfo was not the only rider to retire to the pits, DMC-Lorenzini’s Kev Coghlan was up to fourteenth place when he crashed on turn three on lap seven. The Scot was unhurt and did attempt to re-join the race, but had to retire to his garage, ending his weekend without securing any points.
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